The Battle of Broad
StreetOnly fighting during the
Glorious Revolution of 1688

From 1685 to 1688
James II. was King. His government proved so tyrannical, and so hateful to
the people because of its Roman Catholic policy, that in 1688 some of the
chief men in England invited William, Prince of Orange, who had married
Mary, daughter of James, to come over to England to deliver the country.
On 5th November 1688, William landed at Torbay, in Devon. He brought with
him a large army, and as soon as the soldiers were disembarked he began to
march through the west of England towards London. James at first tried to
resist him, but his army melted away; and William marched steadily
forward. The appearance of his army excited great interest. At the head of
it rode a body of gentlemen upon Flemish war-horses. These gentlemen wore
brass armour and were attended by black men. Then came Swedish horsemen in
black armour and fur cloaks. After them came Swissinfantry with
fierce-looking whiskers, and Dutch soldiers, and heavy brass cannon.
William himself rode in armour upon a white horse, and wore a white plume.
The banner which was carried with the army bore upon it this inscription: The
Protestant religion and the liberties of England.

On Thursday,
December 6th, the Prince of Orange and a strong body of troops reached
Hungerford, on the borders of Berkshire and Wiltshire. There it had been
agreed that commissioners, representing James, should hold conference with
the Prince. This conference took place on December 8th, in a large room at
the Bear Inn. The Prince himself lodged at Littlecote Hall, an ancient
manor house two miles away across the border in Wiltshire. While the
Prince of Orange was at Hungerford, there took place at Reading the only
fighting which marked the course of the famous and successful effort to
deliver England from King James.

The army of King
James was encamped on Hounslow Heath, and an advance guard of six hundred
soldiers, horse and foot, belonging to this army, was posted in Beading.
These men were Irishmen and Roman Catholics, and at that time no person
was more unpopular in England than one who was both an Irishman and a
Papist. The people of Beading beheld the arrival of this force with
mingled hatred and terror. It was evenbelieved that the Irish
soldiers had received secret orders to massacre the inhabitants and to
plunder the town on Sunday during service. It is said that, so great was
the alarm, that many of the inhabitants ran away, and that, in order to
put a stop to this, the commander of the Irish force posted sentries at
all the chief entrances to the town. Meanwhile, the people of Reading
managed to send a message to the Prince at Hungerford, begging for
deliverance from the hands of the Irishmen. Two hundred and fifty of
William's soldiers were thereupon sent forward to clear the Irishmen out
of Beading.

The Irish were
warned of the approach of their enemy and they took measures to defeat its
purpose. At the corner of Castle Street a troop of horse was drawn up in
the yard of the Bear Inn. The walls of St. Mary's churchyard were lined
with musketeers. A force was posted in Broad Street and a sentinel was
stationed on the top of St. Mary's tower in order that he might give
warning of the approach of the enemy. The main body of the Irish force was
drawn up in the Market Place. These plans were made in the belief that the
Dutchmen would enter the town by the western road. But the Dutchmen were
warned by the friendly inhabitants to approach from another direction.
When still some distance from Reading, they turned to the left and marched
along what was then called Pangbourne Lane (now Oxford Road), taking cover
under the hedges. Thus they entered the town unperceived, and at once fell
upon the Irish soldiers.

So sudden an
onslaught threw the defenders into confusion. Those in Broad Street and
those in Castle Street were driven pell-mell into the Market Place. Their
stampede spread panic among their comrades. The whole force took to its
heels and fled towards Twyford. As they fled through the streets, the
inhabitants fired upon them from the windows. The Irish lost their colours
and fifty men. Only five of the Dutch soldiers were slain. Several of the
dead were buried in St. Giles's churchyard.

Such was the Reading
Skirmish. Slight as it was, it was the principal fighting in connection
with William's expedition. It was long celebrated in Reading. Every year
the bells of the churches rang out in honour of the deliverance of the
town, and an old ballad told the story in these lines:

Five hundred
Papishes came there
To make a final end
Of all the town in time of prayer;
But God did them defend.